Nebraska U-S Sen. Ben Sasse used Facebook last night to tear into fellow Republicans who plan to object during the certification of the Electoral College vote next week.
Sasse called them “institutional arsonist members of Congress,” adding that “Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced Wed that he would join a group of GOP House members in forcing votes in both chambers on President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in this year’s election. At least one senator must make the request for it to happen and Hawley is the first to say he will.
Sasse thinks they’re doing it because they’re worried about how the president and his base would react, and he warns they’re “playing with fire.” He wrote that “If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence” but that the president and his congressional supporters don’t.
Sasse says it’s a case of “a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage. But they’re wrong — and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions.”
He’s just about as upset with GOP members who haven’t joined the Electoral College challenge, but also haven’t publicly opposed it. He says that when they talk in private, he hasn’t heard a single congressional Republican claim election fraud. Instead only how they will ‘look’ to President Trump’s most ardent supporters.”